What Matters to You?
Leaving corporate life behind can be a radical shift, and it's a path I dared after years of delivering high-speed, high-performance solutions that left me feeling more like a machine than a human being. By 2020, my mantra People Before Numbers found little praise in my role as Managing Director and the environment I was sitting in. Despite the pressure to prioritize growth and revenue, I sought a more sustainable way to do business. (Get more details about my way in my introduction on What Matters on Spotify or YouTube)
My Discovery
It wasn't until I stumbled upon John Fullerton's work on the regenerative economy that I found a language for the change I wanted to see in this world: regenerative economy. A regenerative economy aims for financially sustainable businesses while nurturing the well-being of people and the planet through restore, renew, and revitalize. It was a revelation that resonated with my living systems approach I had been trained since 1994 and my professional background in Europe and Germany. Fullerton's work affirmed my belief: business could be about more than shareholder profit—it could serve life itself.
The Pitfall
I plunged into the study of regenerative economy principles and discovered many kindred spirits united in the vision of transforming our current extractive economic paradigm. From all kinds of professional backgrounds and industries, many sought to innovate toward this sustainable and just model. However, even in this emerging field, the pitfalls of siloed thinking and reductionism loomed — ironically, the very things we aimed to overcome with regenerative principles. And there is no blaming anyone in it. To make a change in this world one has to become an expert in certain ways. However, here lies the paradox. The more expert we become, the more we need to focus on our field of expertise—and the more we are in danger to create a tunnel view and silo thinking.
The Learnings
Over my years of fuzzing forward in this field I learned two important things: Regeneration is a decision and practice of being in the world, a choice between extraction and the greatest service to life. This practice demands personal maturity and consciousness because regeneration is outcome-focused, not output-based.
The second (and to me most crucial) learning I had is, that unfortunately, even within frameworks aimed at regenerative economy ends, the human often takes a back seat. While you are reading those words please ask yourself: Who does a regenerative economy serve? Who does technology serve? We can go on and on. This is how I see it: we have to remember and understand, that it is we, humans, who are the source, the creators, and (yes) the beneficiaries of a regenerative economy and everything that is needed to build one (like technology, capital, community, etc.). And since we are humans interconnected with our environment, Mama Gaia and her creatures, we are called to create wisely. Feedback is coming—as we can witness with our collective large-scale challenges right now.
The Conclusion
So, here I stand and call for “reclaiming humanity” to innovate towards a truly regenerative economy — remembering that we are the economy's architects and beneficiaries. To tackle grand-scale problems, we must emphasize connection and co-creation. By redefining the economy as relational rather than transactional, we open pathways to communal prosperity.
With this philosophy in mind, I launched What Matters to unite impact creators from the spheres of technology, capital, and humanities, the three most essential elements, to foster a regenerative economy. Well, if you’re asking yourself right now where agriculture or education or healthcare is to find in this triangle, I encourage you to reach out to get in a dialogue about the regenerative economy and we would start doing what I am aiming for: weaving the gap between divided elements and bring together what’s fragmented (btw: agriculture is a technology🙂).
The Core Elements of What Matters
Part 1 We started with live audio conversations on LinkedIn to explore and learn from the vast experiences in these fields. Our approach values the unscripted, the unpredictable, and the collective intelligence that emerges from such genuine engagement. Since October 2023, What Matters has connected over a thousand individuals from more than 45 countries across the globe. Now we just started to publish those conversations as podcasts (on Spotify and YouTube). The next steps for publishing further content with the same idea of raw insights will What Matter grow into a publishing house.
Part 2 The second part of What Matters is revolving around a fellowship program for impact creators, and a venture Lab. The goal is not just to shed light on regenerative economics but to amplify the voices driving it and to make it an accessible, practical model for change. The most supportive way we see this is by helping incredible impact creators become more influential and impactful. Please reach out if you are interested in our tinkering and/or if you want to support our work with content-contribution or financial fertilizing the program.
Part 3 The third part of What Matters is summarized as advocacy and partnerships. I will keep our concrete ideas about advocacy and partnerships a secret for now. However, if you are interested, you are more than welcome to reach out.
Community You might think at this moment “Wait a second, you said What Matters is about bringing impact creators together. Shouldn’t there be kinda -bringing-people-together-something?” — You are so right! Nothing in this entire world works without being in the right relationships. For me, that means relationships that foster an environment in which the individual and the collective can thrive. So, building a community of like-minded and like-hearted people who are impact creators on a regenerative economy is the foundation of What Matters. We are in the process of finding a suitable platform and wouldn’t mind for help (either knowledge a/o volunteer community building help) to make further steps. Anyway, please stay connected by signing up for this blog “From the Cauldron” and receive updates.
To all curious minds in this world, I pose the question: What truly matters to you in an economy, and how can we collectively work towards reinstating humanity at its core? I invite you to reflect, discuss, and perhaps join us in weaving the fabric of a regenerative future.
Yours,
Nicole | Founder
P.S.: What Matters is entirly self-funded and we don’t mind fertilizing and gardening our vision. If you're drawn to this vision and wish to join our conversations, follow the 'What Matters Initiative' on LinkedIn. Any assistance, partnership inquiries, support for our fellowship program, or sponsorship and philanthropic support can be directed to connect@humanitywhatmatters.com.